Polyphony
by Adverage
Summary: Tali Sparks has begun teaching a student run lecture session for added credit during the new semester at the behest of her professor who thinks the opportunity to socialize with other students might do her some good. a human pony au. multiple pairings.


I started this kind of as a joke or a fun thing between my friends and I but decided that it was worth posting for any joy others could get from it. I won't post any guide on who is who as I hopefully characterized them well enough. I also hope to continue, I've raised their median age to something like twenty and made them human purely for the sake of my own comfort in writing them, if that's no the kind of ponyfic you would like to read than I am sincerely sorry but otherwise I do hope you enjoy.

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><p>The chairs were all in their appropriate places; she'd taken the care to wind the chord for her laptop down through the hole in the desk so it didn't get in anybody's way, she had her introduction speech all planned out. Everything had been rationalized and re-rationalized, triple spell-checked and edited and she thought that she might be officially ready.<p>

Talia pulled the checklist out of her pocket, rechecked it and nodded; pleased with herself but it was all a feint, a ruse for her nervousness. A two-fold anxiety deep in her stomach, the fear that she would fail coupled paradoxically with the fear that she might succeed and become responsible for the grades and aspirations of whoever may walk through that door. Normally these kinds of student lecture sessions garnered six or seven regulars at most with more students coming or going depending on the buzz you created. Unfortunately for her the buzz was rarely related to the teaching skill of the lecturer but more so on the size of their busts and how well they played the game of favorites, a game she wouldn't be playing. Not that she hadn't thought about it, considered the different ways to measure success, thought maybe to wear a low-cut shirt and decided that the entire consideration was madness. Not that a low-cut shirt would have done her much good, she was by all accounts average, slightly slender with narrow bookish shoulders. The only feature she'd ever considered notable was her hair, dark black-blue and falling down near her waist, she'd been growing it out since she was a child but the highlights were new, the pink and purple stripe that ran through her straight across bangs. It had been an impulse upon coming to school and she'd found it suited her. Her face was slender too, but pretty in an understated way, she never bothered putting on make-up and her mocha complexion, slightly lightened in recent days from the time spent inside studying, tended to wash-out most kinds of make-up. It didn't matter, she didn't have much time for it anyway, especially now with this lecture session she was up to twenty credits, the academic counselors had been blowing up her emails with warnings about overworking and the effects of stress on the human body but none of it registered, this was how she felt most comfortable.

The first girl that showed up didn't really show up, she walked up to the door, checked the number three times, saw that nobody was inside and didn't dare enter for fear of being in the wrong place. Instead she stood in the hallway, waiting for whoever would be second to lead the way. Tali was about to go rescue her from her indecision when another girl walked up and smiled at her, she couldn't hear the conversation through the door but it seemed like they knew one another. The first girl was small, or maybe she just appeared small from the posture, the slouch and the way her eyes seemed fixed on the floor. The smallness was contrasted by her eyes, which were big, widening even more as she was spoken to. Her skin was pale pink and her thin strawberry-blonde hair came down over half of her face in a dramatic swoop. Tali was trying to listen to the conversation through the door and when the second girl gave a loud laugh she reeled back, feeling as if she'd been eavesdropping, she busied herself with her computer and heard the door open. The second girl had led the way, "Is this where the thing fer Professor Celeste's chemistry class is goin' on?"

The accent was something unmistakably southern as was her appearance, her skin was tanned from acquaintanceship with hard work and her hair was straw yellow in a thick-braid of sunshine and trailing down her back. Asking the question she made eye contact, her eyes were summer green and her face smattered with the freckles and sunspots, she even wore a fitted flannel shirt and a pair of leather boots, Tali smiled.

"Yeah, there are still a few minutes before we start but you could take a seat."

"Thank you kindly."

She was the type of girl who had no problem being the first to arrive, social anxiety didn't appear to apply to her unlike the mousy girl that skittered in behind her and took a seat a fair distance away as to be isolated but not so far as to seem impolite.

"Yer Sparks right? T something? Tammie or Tara."

Tali looked up from her computer, she had almost forgot that she would be expected to socialize with her 'students.'

"Tali yeah, I'm sorry but I don't think I know your name."

"Abigail Jacqueline Smith, but yer welcome to call me A.J, pleased to officially make yer acquaintance."

A.J didn't settle for these pleasantries from across the room, she actually stood up to come shake her hand. In her seat the shy girl seemed to be weighing whether or not she should do the same, Tali decided to save her.

"And you are?"

The girl's voice was so soft she couldn't hear, "What was that?"

Again she couldn't hear but felt impolite asking a third time.

"She can't hardly hear ya' Fiona."

"Um, I'm Fiona Shaw."

"She's just real quiet."

"It's nice to meet you Fiona."

She smiled a small, quiet smile whether out of the establishment of them as acquaintances or that she no longer had to speak, Tali didn't know. She had just about run out of polite professional things to say to A.J and was preparing for the awkward silence when from the door there was a noise like a hole opening in the side of a space ship, like a bunch of air being immediately sucked into a vacuum.

Both her and A.J turned to look while Fiona seemed more tempted to hide beneath the table.

"Ohmigosh, I didn't have any idea that you and Fiona were going to be hear too! You should have told me, I could have brought snacks! I was working out a new recipe for my cookies; I thought maybe you could help me with it since you're good with that stuff. Anyway, are you guys not doing well in chemistry? You should have told me I could have helped, I mean, I guess now we're all going to get help, I know Tali is super smart that's why I made sure to come to this one and not the one run by Trixie so I'm sure we'll all do really well and I'm so sorry my names Pippa."

The girl had said it all in one breath, one very impressive breath and Tali stood there in shock as, instead of taking the offered handshake, Pippa decided to hug her. She knew about Pippa Perkins by reputation, a person like her doesn't walk around without leaving something of a wake behind them and Pippa seemed determined to be involved in just about everything. She was shorter, curvier with a heart shaped face and one of those enviable figures girls like her seemed to always have but most notable about her appearance was the shock of hot pink, cotton candy hair done in several different methods of curls and poofs and utter madness. As Pippa hugged her she realized that it smelled like sugar.

"I'm so excited! We can be friends now!"

"What?"

"Friends, I mean, I've always known who you were but never really got a chance to talk to you but now that I'll be at your lecture session we can be friends. I think maybe I should throw you a we're friends party now."

And with that terrifying statement Pippa hurried off to take her seat beside A.J. For her first session the turnout was pretty good, maybe ten or eleven students which was more than the average. She had left the door open the exact amount of time she had allotted for latecomers, five minutes of letting everybody chat before she closed, or tried to close it, because as soon as she'd let it off the stopper somebody ran straight into it.

There was a lot of swearing as she opened it back up and a girl in a soccer jersey staggered in. "Shit, ow."

"I'm sorry."

She was about Tali's height and only a little less tan with a grin on her face as she felt through her short brunette hair for some hint of concussion.

"Nah, it's cool, this sessions right after practice so I had to book it."

The girl scribbled her name down on the sign-in sheet and took a seat next to Fiona who looked grateful for familiar company. Tali checked it before the session was over, Raena something, the last name was scribbled so awfully that it was impossible to translate.

As far as teaching went she thought she did a good job, all she was supposed to do was reiterate major topics and answer questions which wasn't hard at all. What she found more difficult was putting it in words even the most simple-minded of her 'students' could understand. The only hiccup she could identify was Pippa, who spent nearly the entire class texting frantically, Tali wasn't even entirely sure why Pippa was there, as far as she knew her Chemistry grades were fine. It was enough of a mystery, paired with the overzealous cell-phone use for Tali to make a point to approach her afterwards. Such an effort wasn't necessary, Pippa came bounding right up to her, smiling, "Okay, I had to work some serious magic but I think that the party is going to be super fun and I can't wait to see you tonight!"

"What?"

All of the other students were leaving, forming groups of two or three, little clusters of conversation. She heard Raena laughing at something A.J said.

"The party silly! So you can get introduced to everybody and everything, it's gonna be at my apartment around eleven-like, you can bring whoever you'd like. You'll love it, never been a party like a Pinkie party."

Tali was only more confused.

"Oh, I guess you wouldn't know huh? People call me that because of the hair." She indicated her bubblegum colored head.

"Pippa, I appreciate it, but I don't think I can. I have a lot of studying to do and now with this proctoring session I-"

"If you don't go I'll fail chemistry."

It wasn't something that Pippa was afraid might happen, it was a threat and she said the sentence so fast Tali half-imagined she'd heard it.

"What was that?"

"I just think we'd all do better if you connected with us, you know? Plus, you can never have too many friends!"

Pippa skipped out of the room.

* * *

><p>"And that was all she said?"<p>

Spencer was lying on his back on the couch, looking up at the ceiling. His spiky hair bristled the couch's arm whenever he shifted; he'd been napping when she'd come home.

"Yeah, I mean, I've heard she's kind of weird but that was definitely a threat right?"

Spencer shrugged his skinny shoulders. They'd been practically living together for a semester now after having met in one of Professor Celeste's extra-credit session, which Talia always attended. Spencer had been there for less excessive reasons, mainly that he was about one bad grade away from failing the class. Tali had been tutoring him since but having no money meant he paid off most of the sessions by doing choirs for her or helping to grade papers. She'd given him a key after his roommates had locked him out of their dorm for the fifth time

"So are you gonna go?"

"Is that professional? I mean, giving into your students threats like that."

"Oh come on, you're not like, a professor Tali. You're a student too and you should loosen up. You should also invite me because you know, even freshman need to be socialized properly."

She quirked an eyebrow, "What's your angle?"

"It's not exactly an angle per se."

He squirmed on the couch trying to appear non-assuming.

"Out with it Spence."

"Pippa is a well-documented friend of The Most Beautiful Girl in the Entirety of the World. Rarity Dumond."

He said it as if it were an office she had been elected to, Tali didn't remember casting her vote.

"Is that the pale girl that you're always stalking on facebook?"

"She still hasn't accepted my friend request."

"I think bringing you might be the only way I could make this even less professional."

Spencer pouted and sat up, his shirt was rumpled from sleep and his brown hair was sticking straight up, "Rarity isn't even your student! It would be a complete coincidence if I met and wooed her!"

Tali rolled her eyes, "Fine, but you're gonna have to help me pick out something to wear, I'm completely clueless about this stuff."

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><p>A.J's apartment was small, the bed was a raggedy twin that backed up against the meager kitchen counter, all of her other belongings which was only a nightstand, and an over-stuffed bookshelf and a small desk were crammed into the minimal space. It wasn't a place she normally had people, simply because other people weren't easy to fit. Most of her money fro school came from an academic scholarship and anything else she earned at her thirty hour a week job was sent back home to the farm, it was on the scraps that she'd decided to budget the apartment and it felt impolite to invite people over only to have them knocking about like apples in a barrel. There was one exception, an exception that at the moment was stretched across her bed, head hanging down over the edge to that all of her hair splayed out in a halo by the grace of gravity, Raena never cared about space. It seemed instead that she would take any opportunity to pester A.J regardless of the confines of where she had to do it.<p>

"So whaddya think?"

Even lying on the bed she was only about a foot from where A.J sat at her desk, puzzling over the chemistry work that Tali had tried to help them with.

"'Bout what?"

"Sparks."

"I think she's mighty pleasant."

"Oh come onnnnnnn. What do you reallllllly think?"

Raena had the most annoying habit of stretching out her words when she was trying to annoy you into answering a question that she had no point asking in the first place.

"I can honestly say I don' have one clue what you're on about Dash."

Dash was a school wide nickname, she'd even had it put on the back of her jersey after insisting to the couch that she'd legally changed her name since last soccer season.

"You don't think she's cute?"

Raena watched as her friend readjusted in her seat.

"She's pretty."

"So?"

"So what?"

"So dibs."

A.J sighed, Raena couldn't see her face but she thought she might have physically _felt _the eye roll.

"I'm not playin' yer games this semester Dash, I need to pass or I could lose my scholarship."

"You haven't even let me explain the terms of engagement!"

A.J sighed again and twisted in her seat to look at her, there was a kind of sadness hinted at the way her mouth stayed almost completely linear, the way she tried to control her line of sight. Raena didn't notice and instead took this as her queue to start rattling of the particulars.

"It won't interfere with you're studies because its just tonight, Pinkie's party, whoever can successfully carry out the dibs before the end of the night wins."

"And what's the prize?"

"Uh, well, hell if I know? Honor and glory and a higher awesome score than previous."

The Awesome Score system was something Dash had been enforcing since the two of them had met Pinkie freshman year, it was a system based heavily in bias and not at all in fact that more than once ended with Dash ahead for no good reason.

"I donno Dash, I don't think I'm up fer it."

"Don't go lame on me now Abs!"

"Don't you have homework anyway? How is it that yer even going to Pinkie's party?"

"Pft, homework? Who cares about homework, this is the first Pinkie party of the semester and we have to be the awesomest of friend and make our appearance so might as well play dibs with me!"

"Fine, I'll go but not fer very long."

"What was that? I couldn't hear you over how much I'm gonna beat you."

"Don't push yer luck Dash."

It fell on deaf ears.

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><p>Spencer had helped her pick out something that matched all of the online descriptions of what would be considered appropriate for a party, she had even watched a tutorial on how to do make-up properly but had restarted something like five times trying to get it perfect. The result was a smoky dark purple eye shadow that Spencer assured her looked mostly professional.<p>

Pippa lived in one of the small compact houses that lined the streets of the city, some of them had been subsidized into upstairs-downstairs apartments but this one had been split commercially, the lower floor was a bakery and even though they had probably been closed since earlier that day the stairway still smelled like cake icing.

"Is this really a good idea?"

Spencer had done his best to look nice in a button-up and jeans that had at least been washed recently.

"Don't chicken out on me now Sparks!"

There were already lots of people there, which was immediately a relief and a new anxiety, she liked that at least it would be non-intimate, that she could mull around for a bit and go unnoticed while at the same time she'd never even been seen in public by this many people and the concept of public was suddenly frightening.

"Sparks you made it!"

So much for unnoticed.

Pippa looped her into a hug in one smooth motion and there was that distinct smell of sugar in her hair.

"Hey everybody Sparkie's here!"

There was a general roar of approval from the crowd though she was sure none of them even knew who she was.

"Gosh, Sparkie's not gonna work either is it? It's really hard to come up with a nickname for you did you know that Talia? I mean, it's not easy like Pinkie or Dash, oh hey, speaking of Dash."

Raena had walked up with a beer in either hand.

"Sup teach?"

Raena offered her one of the drinks but she shook her head, "No thanks."

"Did you want something else? Pippa's got just about anything you could want plus we got some donations."

Raena raised her eyebrow in a way Tali didn't exactly like the look of.

"Um, maybe a little later."

"I'll take it."

Spencer reached for the beer just as Raena pulled it away.

"Who's this guy?"

"Oh, this is Spencer, he's kind of like my teaching assistant."

"Awwww how cute."

Pippa ruffled his hair; he grimaced for a second but didn't complain, knowing it was good-natured. In the interim Raena had disappeared.

"She's just being mean! We'll find you something, come on!"

Pippa grabbed a hold of his hand, leading him towards the kitchen and leaving Talia suddenly alone, a predicament of which she was painfully aware. For a few minutes she stood their awkwardly, developing that kind of panic that associates being perceived as uncool, she was about to slip out the door when a girl who looked as if she'd walked out of Classic Hollywood came up and stood beside her. Her hair was unfurling over her shoulder in a series of large, glamorous curls and her clothes were lavish. Tali thought that the necklace she was wearing was probably enough to pay her tuition.

"It's okay darling, I saw Pippa run off with your friend, she can be rather inconsiderate but I'm more than willing to keep you company."

Talia didn't know that people still talked like that or even used words like 'darling' or 'marvelous.'

"Oh, t-thanks."

"After all, aren't you the reason for this soiree? It'd be just awful if you were ousted from your own event."

"I'm sorry, I don't think I know you."

She was finding very suddenly that she didn't actually know anybody, how was it that she had spent three years at the university and couldn't even name the most common face of her graduating class. She must have spoken with A.J before, she knew that Raena was the star of the soccer team, even that Pinkie threw parties and yet retained no facts about them, might not even be able to pick them out of a classroom had some of their features not been so obvious, (Pinkie's particularly). Least of all the girl who was now taking admirable measures to make her at least a bit more comfortable in the face of such unpleasant social anxiety, the entire thing made her feel guilty. Had she actually gone through such a wealth of her life without a solid friendship? Sure there was Spencer, but that was more a working relationship than a real, nothing gained but joy friendship and Professor Celeste was more a mentor than a friend, surely one day they would be friends but not until graduate school or maybe after. She wanted badly to recognize at least one person as a friendly face.

"Rarity Dumond."

Oh.

Tali could see why Spencer had a crush on her, she was pretty, pale and dark haired with bright blue eyes, not to mention as she was currently demonstrating quite considerate despite the somewhat haughty way of speaking.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Tali."

"So that's your first name, everyone's just been calling you Sparks."

"Everyone?"

"Oh well, not _everyone_ everyone but apparently quite a few of my familiars are in that Chemistry group of yours and so it has become an obstacle to avoid hearing your name."

The idea of being spoken of was strangely warming and Rarity made a good partner in conversation. She was a fashion student, which was the first time Tali had ever heard of the schools fashion program, she mentioned with pride that all the clothes she was wearing were of her own design and sprinkled in polite questions regarding her own interests, the entire thing was so completely civil and comfortable that she didn't notice the passage of time until Raena reappeared and slipped an arm around her shoulder.

"Hey hot stuff."

Her voice had a quality that Talia hadn't recognized and had to come to the revelation sometime after that it was the slight slur of someone who was getting on towards drunk. For a moment she was so distracted by the strange inflection of the greeting that she failed to realize exactly what had been said, when it hit her she blushed.

"Raena, maybe you shouldn't."

"What? I'm not doing anything! I see you met Rarity! She's too smart for remedial Chemistry."

"While I'll take that as a compliment let me remind you that a Chemistry credit is not required to for a degree in Fashion Design."

Tali didn't say anything but the weight Raena was putting on her was uncomfortable, as was the attention, she reverted quickly back to wanting to leave.

"I personally," Raena lurched forward on her shoulder, "Cannot wait for Professor Sparkles to teach me allllll about chemistry."

She grinned, Talia cased her exits, not even questioning the new nickname."

"I think I'm gonna leave."

"What? You caaaaaan't though, the parties not even near over."

"Raena, ge'off her."

The blonde and flannel of Abby was something she thought she might begin to associate with relief. A.J shifted Dash onto her shoulder and then apologized for her behavior.

"She gets lil' flirtatious when she'd had a few."

"Laaaaaaame. You're not even playin' by the rules A.J!"

"What?"

"Nothin', nothin' at all, she must think she's playin' a game of soccer or somethin' crazy."

Abby looked sheepish.

"This has been great but I think I'm gonna go."

Tali inched back towards the staircase that led to the exit.

Raena whined, "But I haven't scored yet!"

"Crazy soccer hallucinations is all it is."

Pippa had returned from wherever-it-is-she-had-been with Spencer in tow looking considerably worse for wear, his hair now much more considerably mussed. When he saw Rarity his jaw dropped but Pinkie elbowed in front of him.

"So _this _is where EVERYBODY is, I've been looking _everywhere _in the _whole house_."

Talia had continued her inching towards the door, which she now sped up, fearing that Pinkie might detect her reluctance to party.

"Where you goin' Sparkles?"

Now the nickname registered but she didn't have time to correct it, she wanted badly to leave.

"I'm sorry but I have to go."

She was nearly there.

"But you can't leave! We still got a good three hours seventeen minutes and fourteen seconds to go!" Pippa looked at her watch as if she had actually done the calculations, Talia wasn't entirely sure that she hadn't.

"Sorry."

She was sorry, she was sorry that she was no doubt returning herself to the lonely life of all night studying, of filling every extra minute with frantic activity for fear of what? Fear of free time, free time that she realized she wouldn't be able to fill because she had nobody to fill it with. She turned to make her run down the stairs, her attention split between the disappointed faces and the determination of her own escape, so much so that she didn't notice Fiona. Not noticing Fiona would normally be a normal thing, she was hardly noticeable under normal circumstances and it seem that she had dressed the same color as the walls on purpose as to blend in as fully as possible, she was a master at the art of being a wallflower and she barely squeaked as Tali bumped her. Fiona had nothing to do with what happened next, though she would try and force as much blame onto herself as was possible in the days to come, Tali never blamed her, she knew it was all her zeal to escape the prospect of friendship, had she been going a few steps slower she might now have tumbled down the stairs. She recognized a kind of bewildered pain and then thought that she'd fallen asleep.


End file.
